Perth Glory determined to build a platform at home and turn HBF Park into a fortress ahead of double-header

They may have enjoyed contrasting starts to both their respective A-League seasons and home form in recent times, but Perth Glory’s men’s and women’s sides are hoping to turn HBF Park into a fortress once more. Glory are hosting a men’s and women’s double-header on Friday, when the women welcome a star-studded Brisbane Roar before the men take on Central Coast Mariners under lights. Perth have hosted numerous double-headers in the past and women’s captain Isobel Dalton said while they loved playing at Sam Kerr Football Centre, it was an honour to be able to play at HBF Park. “I absolutely love it, it’s obviously a beautiful stadium, the pitch is immaculate so I think it’s exciting we get the opportunity to play here and have our men play after us,” Dalton said. “It brings a lot of fans through the door, and it’s good exposure for the women’s team.” Young talismanic attacker Sebastian Despotovski said it was a privilege to be able to play on the same ground his father and Glory great Bobby used to. “It’s a privilege to play here in front of friends, family, especially people who used to watch my dad. I’ve got plenty of friends and family who are wanting to come watch me play, it’s special,” Despotovski said. While the men are yet to win in three attempts so far this season and have already seen coach David Zdrilic sacked, the Mariners loom as their best chance to snag three points and head into the international break with a win under their belts. Perth had the worst home record in the league last season with just two victories. Co-captain Scott Wootton, who played four seasons in Wellington and helped the Phoenix turn Sky Stadium into an unhappy hunting ground for visiting teams, said Glory needed to make use of their home ground advantage. “Perth and Wellington, the advantage they have is teams have to travel a long way and adjust to the time difference. At Wellington, we always prided ourselves as being very hard to play against and very hard to beat,” Wootton said. “We have to be, first and foremost, difficult to play against and difficult to beat and if you can dominate the ball, that goes a long way.” On the women’s side, Brisbane boast four Matildas in the form of Tameka Yallop, Sharn Freier, Grace Kuilamu and Chloe Lincoln. Glory women’s coach Stephen Peters said after two tough tussles against the Roar last season, he was expecting a similarly tight encounter. Peters said his side had to be wary of Roar’s quality in the final third, including Yallop and Freier. “You’ve got to make tactical adjustments, given what the opposition’s going to throw at you and the quality, but we can’t go away too much from the principles we’ve been working on and what we feel our strengths are,” Peters said. “But you obviously have to be very wary of what they pose; it’s a different style that they’re playing versus last season, so we’ve also got to be ready for that. “You only have one match to have a look at; That’s why you can’t go away too far from what you’ve been doing yourselves and if we do that and find the balance early, we’ll be right in it.”